Following in the footsteps of the Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth trilogy, Neptunia U, Action Unleashed has also been brought to Steam by Idea Factory International to unleash a combo of beat’em up action and flashy fan service upon unsuspecting PC gamers. Early last year, I reviewed the original release of Neptunia U: Action Unleashed for the PS Vita, which turned out to be a decent game to mash buttons and chain infinite combos. The PC port is essentially the same game, with a couple minor additions mainly regarding graphics and control options.

Now with several PC ports under their belt, IFI’s launch of Neptunia U was relatively smooth compared to the first couple of Re;Birth ports which had a few rough edges for some users prior to several post-launch patches. On the PCs* I tested the game with, I luckily encountered no noticeable problems while playing at 1080p, even when running on a 2 year old Surface Pro 2, with no dedicated graphics processor, using a mobile i5 from 2 generations ago. The more powerful desktop machine I used was able to maintain a solid 60 frames per second at all times, even with the screen filled with dozens of enemies and rendering the game at 2560×1440, while the Surface Pro 2 had a few occasional dips into the high 40s when there was a lot of action going on in game, which is still perfectly playable and quite smooth compared to the original. I’d assume that those of you with 4k monitors would likely be able to run the game at full resolution without much trouble, providing your graphics card is adequate.

Compared to the original vita version, the updated PC port features smoother anti-aliasing on the 3d models and crisper looking textures, especially noticeable on the scenery objects and backgrounds. The increased draw distance on the pc version also helps to allow you to see more of the arenas you’re fighting in and monsters in the distance. Below, you can see some of the comparison images between the original Vita version [Left], and the PC release [Right]